I just got my first drop spindle, and I know in theory how it's supposed to work. My problem is, every time I start to spin, it seems to be working for the first 15 seconds or so, and then it starts spinning the other way and unraveling everything. How do I get it to stop doing that?

You do need to keep twirling the spindle every few seconds, otherwise it will start to unspin the yarn.

Catch it between your knees if you`re sitting down, before it starts to backspin and untwist the yarn.. It gives you time to rearrange your hands up top before you set it twirling again. In time you won`t need to do this, but it helps when you`re just learning.

It may be that your spindle is too light for the fiber you're spinning. It's also true that beginner yarn is usually very thick, and that beginners often haven't gotten the grasp of keeping the twist out of the drafting zone. Try pre-drafting the heck out of your fiber, use the park and draft method that Val described - it should help.

Lissa

"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian." --Dennis Wholey

Thank you for the advice. EVerything seems to be going more smoothly now that I've figured out how to keep the spindle spinning with my feet while my hands draft the fiber. But now I'm all out of fiber. Oh well.

If you're out of fiber, what are you doing here? Get thee to a fiber shop (or at least a fiber website!) and get more!!! Unless I get there and buy it all up first...

-WendyDid you know God was a knitter?"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/Momma78239/StripyFixationribbedsocks.jpg[/IMG]Oh, no, I'm blogging now! Click to see it!